Some new photos from Fort Wayne

[Huss]

Excellent shot. No caption needed.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Here's a portrait of my son that I did a few weeks ago to test a 100mm f2.8 Canon FD lens that I'd bought.

 

[paulfish4570]

your son is a handsome fellow.
and i like that empty rail crossing photo ...

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This house is on Arbor Avenue, in the neighborhood where I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana.​

When I was a teenager, the owner of the house was an elderly man named Cecil Young. I used to visit him often, and we would talk about photography, which he had done as a hobby since he was a young man.​

After he and his wife died, the house's new owners added on to it. The house was very small; it only had one bedroom. The Youngs had been married for over 50 years, but never had any children.​

The porch was one of the things that was added. When I met Cecil, there was a flowerbed in front of the house, where the porch is now. I first met him when I knocked on his door to ask him if I could photograph the crocuses he had goring there.​

 

[kbg32]

Beautiful Chris.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Beautiful Chris.

Thanks, Keith. Here's another that I shot last week.

This house is on Kinnaird Avenue, east of South Wayne Street, on the south side of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The American flag taped to the window on the door looks like it was painted by a child.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This doll is often seen sitting on an old chair on the sidewalk in front of Candlelight Antiques on Broadway in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This building is a vacant storefront on the corner of Fairfield Avenue and Dewald Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The graffiti on the boarded-up window says; "Fort Wayne Sucks Dick!" The board on the sidewalk says; "**** Her Right In The Pussy."​

The commentary on Fort Wayne is obviously an expression of the graffitist's feelings for our city, though I don't get the point of the graffiti on the other board.​

"**** Her Right In The Pussy" is an internet meme created by some men in Kentucky who created fake news broadcasts for YouTube, made to look like they came from a TV station in Cincinnati, which feature a creepy-looking guy in a hoodie grabbing the "reporter's" microphone and screaming that phrase into it.​

The very vulgar expression has catapulted the guy in the hoodie to fame on the internet. There's a wikipedia article on it, and a Facebook page as well!

While I was photographing it, two young women who had graduated from high school this year stopped to do their own photos. They were shooting film! While I was talking to them, a man close to my parents age also stopped to photograph this place.
​

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This woman is photographing the ferris wheel at the 2015 Three Rivers Festival with her iPad's camera. This year, I saw very, very few people taking pictures with cameras of any kind.​

A lot of people were photographing, but most were using cellphone cameras or tablets. I saw a few people shooting with manual film cameras. I saw more people using digital SLRs. Only one or two were using digital point-n-shoot cameras, and nobody was using film point-n-shoots. Aside from professionals and serious photography enthusiasts, no one uses cameras anymore!​

The Three Rivers Festival takes place every summer in July at Headwaters Park in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. I go every year and photograph people at the festival.​

 

[giganova]

Love your pictures, Chris, you have a great eye!

 

[Michael Markey]

This house is on Arbor Avenue, in the neighborhood where I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana.​

When I was a teenager, the owner of the house was an elderly man named Cecil Young. I used to visit him often, and we would talk about photography, which he had done as a hobby since he was a young man.​

After he and his wife died, the house's new owners added on to it. The house was very small; it only had one bedroom. The Youngs had been married for over 50 years, but never had any children.​

The porch was one of the things that was added. When I met Cecil, there was a flowerbed in front of the house, where the porch is now. I first met him when I knocked on his door to ask him if I could photograph the crocuses he had goring there.​

I like the shot and the feeling that it evokes , Chris.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Since 1957, the huge Sunbeam Bread sign on top of Perfection Bakery has been a landmark in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The slices of bread falling out of the package are mounted on a wheel. When the sign is turned on, the rotating wheel makes it appear as though a continuous stream of bread slices are falling from the package to the plate.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is the front window of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post in the small town of Churubusco, Indiana.​

The bumper sticker on the window says; "If You ♥︎ Your Freedom, Thank A Vet!"​

The sign under the sticker says; "Think Before You Donate." It lists a number of well-known charities, along with the amount each organization's leaders are paid, and how much of the money that people donate is actually used to help people in need. Many of them do very little to make the world a better place, while their leaders are paid six-figure salaries! The sign noted that the VFW's leaders are paid nothing; they're volunteers, even at the highest levels.​

Churubusco's VFW is in a storefront on Main Street (US-33). I thought that the Uncle Sam lawn gnome in the window was funny. I've never seen one of those before!​

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I found this "Man Cave" in the small town of New Haven, Indiana.

The man who owned it told me that he had the Confederate flag on display because was a "redneck" and a southerner who was proud of his southern heritage.

New Haven is a small town that borders the eastern side of Fort Wayne.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This barn stands in the back yard of an old brick farmhouse on the north side of US-24, next to I-469, on the eastern edge of New Haven, Indiana. This is a large barn; the hole in the siding that the ladder reaches up to is about 30 feet off the ground.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Here's another photo of the barn from my last post.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is the rear entrance to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post in the small town of Churubusco, Indiana. The door is flanked by an American flag and a POW-MIA flag.​

The heart-shaped stepping stones embedded in the pavement are painted like the American flag, though much of the paint has been worn off by people walking on them. That seems disrespectful to the flag; not something you would expect at a veterans group.​

Churubusco's VFW is in a storefront on Main Street (US-33). This door is in the alley on the back of the building.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This young man's t-shirt caught my eye as I was walking around the 2015 Three Rivers Festival in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. The festival was in July.
​

The front of the shirt says; "Women Lie..." The back says; "Numbers Don't" The text is actually from the lyrics of a song called "Reminder" by Jay Z. The actual line from the song is; "Men lie, women lie, numbers don't."​

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This unusual flagpole stands in front of an old vacant house at the corner of Oak Street and Lincoln Highway in the small town of New Haven, Indiana. The flags on top look new, while the ones on the ends of the crossarm are faded and town. The pole itself is not very tall, maybe seven or eight feet.

 

[froyd]

Wonderful image, Chris!